December 2025 Reading

Published: 2025-12-31 1:17 PM

Category: Books | Tags: Adam Higginbotham, Wendy McClure, Randall Munroe, Michael Finkel, Charles Dickens

So many books over winter break! A couple were short, but they still count.

The Wilder Life - Wendy McClure

I'm reading the Little House series to my middle daughter before bed, so I grabbed this on a whim. It went on a little long, but McClure realized that a) the life on the prairie wasn't always as quaint as was portrayed, and b) hunting for that life now paves over the complexities hidden in the children's story.

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randall Munroe

I used to read the What If page regularly, but had never picked up the actual book. I burned through this in a couple of days, giggling at how ridiculous some of the scenarios are. I especially loved the light-speed baseball this time around. It's an easy, approachable read for anyone.

The Art Thief - Michael Finkel

I'm really on a kick this year with thefts and anthropology. The Art Thief is one of those mouth-drops-open kind of stories where you just can't believe what the thieves pull off. Stéphane Breitwieser thinks he's invincible and he has little reason to doubt that assumption. He frequently makes off with artworks in broad daylight, even when cameras are around. The book read quickly and I found myself turning page after page waiting for his luck to run out.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

I'm not a fan of Victorian literature, but we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol this year with our kids and I decided to sit down and just read the original. I was surprised at how close the movie came to the original and just how much darker the book was. I lost the thread a couple of times in some of the descriptions of scenery and people, but overall, I enjoyed the short read.

A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite - Adam Higginbotham

In 1980, a man with a grudge built a highly-sophisticated bomb to blow up a casino he owed money to unless he was paid a $3 million ransom. Higginbotham is one of my new favorite authors because he is able to weave together each story into one compelling narrative.

This was a podcast episode, but the full text is the length of a short book and is still available on The Atavist.

https://magazine.atavist.com/2014/a-thousand-pounds-of-dynamite